The Truth and Other Hidden Things: A Novel

by Lea Geller

Overview

A freshly funny and heartfelt novel about one woman’s secret life, the stories she tells, and the thrill and notoriety of being noticed.

On the same day Bells Walker learns that her IUD has failed, her husband, Harry, is denied tenure at his Manhattan university. So Bells, Harry, their two adolescent children, and her baby bump move to New York’s Hudson Valley, where Harry has landed a job at Dutchess College in the town of Pigkill.

When the farm-to-table utopia Bells envisioned is anything but, she turns to the blogosphere. Under the pen name the County Dutchess, she anonymously dishes about life in Pigkill, detailing the activities of hypercompetitive parents and kombucha-drinking hipsters. Suddenly, Bells has a place to say all the things she’s been secretly thinking about being a wife and mother. As Bells turns the focus of her blog on her new neighbors, her readership continues to grow, but her scandalous posts hit closer to home: she puts Harry’s new job in jeopardy, derails her children’s lives, and risks the one real friendship she’s built.

When Bells uncovers scandals right under her nose, the Dutchess goes viral, and soon everyone is asking, Who is the County Dutchess? Now Bells has to ask herself if it’s worth losing the people closest to her to finally feel noticed by everyone else.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781542026536
Publisher:	Amazon Publishing
Publication date:	04/06/2021
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Lea Geller is the author of Trophy Life. A recipient of the 2019 Kathryn Gurfein Writing Fellowship at Sarah Lawrence College, she began her writing career by blogging about her adventures in the trenches of parenting. Lea lives in New York with her husband and children, for whom she frequently wakes up and makes several separate breakfasts. When Lea’s not writing and eavesdropping on her children, she can be found running, gardening, drinking diner coffee, and occasionally teaching middle school English. She is a graduate of Columbia University and Stanford Law School. You can find Lea at www.leageller.com.

Editorial Reviews

02/15/2021

Geller’s charming latest (after Trophy Life) follows the travails of an amiable if floundering middle-aged mother. Bells Walker learns she is unexpectedly pregnant the same day her husband, Harry, accepts a new professorship. At 43, Bells is not looking forward to caring for an infant alongside her demanding teenagers, Sam and Alice—nor is she excited about moving to upstate New York from Manhattan for Harry’s new job. But Harry quickly flourishes, and Sam and Alice settle easily into their new schools. Bells, meanwhile, is unraveling, and after she’s snubbed by the conceited mothers of Dutchess County, she begins an anonymous, gossipy blog chronicling the hipster lifestyle of the Hudson Valley, her neighbors’ romantic flings, and the insidious underbelly of the area’s hypercompetitive parenting culture: “if this is a utopia, it’s a fermented one,” she writes in one post. As her neighbors desperately try to uncover the identity of the anonymous blogger, Bells anguishes over whether she should continue with the endeavor. After the birth of baby Steven and the revelation that Bells’s blog could jeopardize Harry’s career, she has to confront her frustrations and decide what kind of person she wants to be. Driven by Bells’s wry and perceptive commentary, Geller’s narrative will have readers guessing and chuckling until the end. This engrossing romp makes for delightfully voyeuristic commentary on wealthy upstate life. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

This engrossing romp makes for delightfully voyeuristic commentary on wealthy upstate life.” —Publishers Weekly

“A brave, bold, laugh-out-loud, heartwarming, nail-biting story of family life in these uncertain times. Bells Walker is so relatable, I wanted to yell advice to her as I read. A pure delight.” —Shelley Noble, New York Times bestselling author of Lucky’s Beach

“What do you do when life throws a bunch of less than welcome surprises your way? If you’re Bells, the plucky protagonist of The Truth and Other Hidden Things, you make a string of questionable (if hilarious) choices…that land you exactly where you were always supposed to be. Lea Geller’s latest novel is a clever, witty, and insightful novel that just may inspire you to look at your own plot twists in a whole new light.” —Camille Pagán, bestselling author of This Won’t End Well

“The Truth and Other Hidden Things is a perfect escape, whether you’re a city mouse like the hilarious and lovable narrator, Bells Walker, or used to the bucolic settings that amaze the Walker family so. As Bells navigates a whoops baby, a career tumble, two surly teens, and that PTA lady we all know, you’ll laugh—with and at her—and cheer for her every step of the way. I loved this romp and you will, too!” —Kelly Harms, Washington Post bestselling author of The Overdue Life of Amy Byler

“In this humorous, smart novel, Geller brilliantly tackles one woman’s need for approval and the desperate lengths she’ll go to to get there. Bells Walker is the imperfect mom and friend we can all relate to and eventually root for. Readers will devour this book in one sitting. I did.” —Rochelle B. Weinstein, USA Today bestselling author

From the Publisher